Billy and Doug have got some time to spare at KOWD. They aborted their departure on their take off roll out due to an alternator failure indication. This was a good call as maintenance found a problem. While it is being repaired they have time to debrief their morning legs. One of the main issues was the fast talking communication in the New York area. Billy struggled to keep up. Another subject is Class E Airspace. Our departure from N12 referenced "upon entering Class E Airspace..." Doug provides a superb explanation of the difference between Class E and Class G Airspace.

Doug reflects on how pilots can communicate with fewer words and still get their message across to ATC. Be succinct and direct. He then comes back to basics of aviate - navigate - communicate. When ATC gives you vectors for the turn, TURN. They had prepared for the approach into KISP way ahead of time so they were ready. When they departed from Islip the tower gave them an intersection departure - Billy was confused but Doug gave the push. Then Doug recounts the method he used to determine the optimal descent point into KOWD. This was a good and creative two-finger use of the VSR tool. But Doug had to do more. There was a lot of traffic coming in and the glidepath was coming up fast without a clearance for the approach so he reached out, "Is N516A cleared for the approach?".

Bottom line, this morning was about being pilot in command and not being afraid of making the mistakes we need make in order to learn.